Thread: IL:Elgin council to look at budget, illegal immigration

Elgin council to look at budget, illegal immigration
Elgin council will vote on tightened 2009 money plan


December 16, 2008
By STEVEN ROSS JOHNSON Staff Writer

ELGIN -- City leaders are expected on Wednesday to adopt next year's financial plan, which is projected to have significant spending cuts to address the ever-worsening state of an economy many feel is on course to worsen.

The proposed $276 million fiscal plan for 2009 is an 18 percent decrease from the 2008 budget, with a 2.5 percent projected decline in city income coupled with a 9 percent increase in expenses.

While police and fire are among the few city departments expected to see a rise in their funding compared to this year, others -- such as community development -- will see double-digit percent declines to their budgets.

The first effects were felt last month when the city announced it was laying off 16 employees, with plans to eliminate as many 54 positions by 2010 through reassignments, early retirement or not filling vacancies.

Initiatives vs. illegals

Also scheduled for Wednesday's council meeting is an update on the city's measures to enforce against illegal immigration.

Elgin Police Chief Lisa Womack and City Corporate Counsel William Cogley will give a report detailing the results of four initiatives started in January to provide tougher screening of companies working for the city, as well as foreign-born arrestees booked at Elgin jail.

In a June report, police said they identified more than 80 people to U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement officials as having illegal immigration status during the months of March and April.

In January, Elgin reinstituted use of the federal government's Web-based E-Verify screening system to check employees' Social Security numbers with the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security databases to verify work status.

The city council meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with a special presentation scheduled at 5 p.m. to discuss ways the city can become a more sustainable community.
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/cour ... S1.article

The first effects were felt last month when the city announced it was laying off 16 employees, with plans to eliminate as many 54 positions by 2010 through reassignments, early retirement or not filling vacancies.

Oh yeah, cut more American jobs. God forbid they eliminate bennies for illegal aliens. I wonder how many of those 16 who lost their jobs are (or were) pro-illegal?

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Elgin finds prosecution one way to deter illegal immigrants
By Harry Hitzeman | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 12/18/2008 12:01 AM | Updated: 12/18/2008 11:06 AM

Since March 1, Elgin police have arrested 20 illegal immigrants who will be deported if they are convicted of the felony drug charges, gang activity or sex crimes they are accused of.

Another 233 have been reported to the U.S. Immigrations Customs and Enforcement Agency, or ICE, but the status of these arrestees is unknown, said Elgin Police Chief Lisa Womack.

Overall, the department has made 1,259 inquires to the ICE database of foreign-born defendants and 253 - or about one in five - turned out to be in the country illegally.

"I think the initiatives we have are appropriate to our community. I can't say whether I can offer an opinion on whether or not it's reducing our illegal population," Womack said after a presentation to city council members Wednesday. "We are concentrating on the criminal alien portion of the illegal population."

Last January, city officials announced they were taking several steps to combat illegal immigration, such as screening defendants that are foreign born and investigating a host of programs offered under the federal Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security, or ACCESS.

Doug Heaton, co-founder of the Association For Legal Americans, said the police should increase reporting their screening and reporting to ICE of illegal immigrants. "I suggest that we pick it up a notch," he said.

Mayor Ed Schock said he believes the city's policies are working and disagreed with Heaton, noting that ICE has firm rules on which types of crimes mandate reporting to federal officials.

"Just going through the time and effort making reports in which there will be no action seems to me to be pointless and a bad use of our police officers' time. We're not in charge here, ICE is. That's a point people seem to be missing. We have to follow their rules," said Schock, adding that more than 1,000 accused criminals born outside the country were here legally. "This notion that almost everybody running around who is foreign born is here illegally - those statistics disprove that."

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=259042